A/N yay! I love my reviews! thank you for reviewing! Um, lezze; sorry, but Kedo is not coming to live with them. She is part of my grand scheme, but she lives with Zechs, which i revised the end of the last chapter to show. I do own Kedo as well as Cass and Toby, but I'm sure you all figured that out. Don't own GW, blah blah blah. Oh, and some of you might end up wondering as this story progresses, we are working off the theory that Duo really IS Shinigami, god of death. And that Endless Waltz never happened cause I never saw it so I don't know what happened, and another war started soon after the one in the series, but it's not nearly as bad, and the pilots are afforded time to actually carry on real lives. Missions will become more apparent and frequent as the kids grow up. think that's it. thank you for reviewing, please review, you know the routine. The characters may seem a bit OOC, but wouldn't you if you had a kid?
4 years old
Hero awoke to the feeling of tiny knees crawling across his body. He felt them transfer over to Duo's body and begin to shake his lover. "Wake up, mommy, wake up!" Cass's voice squeaked, even though she was trying to whisper. Heero suppressed a grin. Duo groaned in response to his little girl, and she giggled. "Good morning, mommy!" she chirped. "Guess what today is?" Duo moaned even louder. "It's your birthday!" Cass answered for him. "Quatre helped me make breakfast in bed for you," she continued happily, "but I dropped it on the way up. But these were okay." She held out three small packets and Duo was fully awake. He sat up quickly, grabbed the packets and stuffed them under his pillow. Cass watched with curiosity. "Why thank you, Hun," duo said quickly to distract her. "Who gave you those?" "Uncle Wufei did," Cass answered. 'He said he'd even put up with the noise for today, but I didn't really get what that meant."
While Duo distracted Cass, Heero slipped his hand under Duo's pillow and pulled out the three packets. They were greasy from having food on them, but he still knew what they were. Heero chuckled and got up. "That was a very thoughtful gift, don't you think?" he asked Duo. Duo was a little perturbed still but nodded. "You think he could've found a better way to get them to us than through Cass, though," he protested. "Oh, I'm sure he could've, but the look on your face..." Heero smiled and shook his head. "It was worth it." Duo sputtered, but accepted the answer.
Breakfast was waiting down in the kitchen. Quatre had cooked another meal, but it probably wasn't as good as the special one he had made earlier, Duo shrugged inwardly. It didn't matter, food was food. As he began to scarf away, Quatre sat down across from him. "We're taking the kids for the day," he said. "We thought you might like a day to yourselves, so we arranged some things and probably won't be back until late." Heero nodded. "Thank you," he said. Duo smiled slightly around a mouthful of food and tried to say the same, but it didn't come out quite right. Quatre just smiled.
Heero and Duo prepared to have a night on the town after breakfast, even though it was only eight in the morning. Duo noticed Heero putting in his earring, the one that had a transceiver in it. He suddenly became very suspicious and questioned Heero about it. Heero sighed and answered, "I have a mission I'm expecting. This is just in case the mission comes through." He said the last while pointing at the earring. Duo nodded. They were, after all, still soldiers.
Kedo arrived a few minutes after Duo and Heero finished. Apparently she was going with Quatre and the kids. Zechs had dropped her off, and had stayed a minute to say hello. Then they all left. Zechs for where ever and Quatre and Trowa with the kids for somewhere else. The pilots had been a little wary of associating with Zechs at first, but had soon come to find out that he had abandoned OZ a long time ago, and now more of a free agent. He tried to stay out of the war scene, but he still had his own gundam and would ocassionaly get in his own one-two. As all the pilots headed their own way, Heero and Duo decided that maybe they should go eat first. Heero sighed. He didn't know how Duo could eat so much, but he figured with al the running around they were likely to do, he would probably need the energy.
The children were sitting in the back of the car, chattering excitedly. Kedo pulled out a medium sized shoe box and opened it. inside were various objects such as black candles, a few white ones, some miniature braziers and a inoscence burner like the priests use, except with pentegrams in it. "Mommy will love this!" Cass squealed happily. Toby smiled too. Quatre drove for a while more before turning around and heading for the house. Almost as soon as he turned around he heard Heero's voice in his own transceiver; "We're out the door."
As they pulled back into their own driveway, Kedo tapped trowa on the shoulder. "Trowa?" she asked. "Would you help me with something? We put a box with more stuff for the portal in the trunk before we knocked on the door. Could you help me bring it inside?" Trowa nodded slightly. When the car had stopped he got out and retrieved the box Kedo had spoken of. She beamed at him. "Thank you, Trowa!" she said sweetly. Trowa watched her skip away towards the house. There was no way this was Relena's daughter.
Quatre had already brought their box out from the study, and Wufei was bringing his down the stairs when Trowa entered the house. Cass, Toby and Kedo had run upstairs and hauled another box to the stairs. Trowa put down Kedo's box and went to help the children bring down their contribution. "It's from daddy," Cass explained. Trowa nodded slightly, unseen from the naked eye. Cass caught it though, and smiled back. When he had hauled their box safely to the bottom of the stairs the children retook it and began to drag it toward the stairs to the basement, where Wufei and Quatre had already deposited their boxes. Trowa picked up Kedo's box again and headed to the basement himself.
Once all four boxes were safe inside the basement, the Gundam pilots and children returned to the main floor. Cass went over to the couch and pulled out a box. Quatre watched her with concern in his eyes. "Cass," he cautioned, "please be careful. If you start to lose control, stop and come back, okay?" Cass nodded as she headed back to the basement with the box. "I will, uncle Quatre," she promised. "Don't worry." With that she descended the flight of stairs down to the basement, shutting the door behind her. Everyone watched the door nervously for a while, then they all returned to the living room.
All except Toby.
Kedo had seen him go upstairs to his room. She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling she had better follow him to keep him out of trouble. As she reached his door, she saw her intuition had been right. Toby was sitting on the bed next to a box of his own. Kedo watched as he ran his fingers gently over something inscribed on the top. Kedo decided she had better see what was going on from Toby's point of view. She was about to make her presence known when Toby said, "Hello, Kedo." She jumped a little. She had tried to make sure he hadn't known she was there. "How did you..."Kedo didn't finish. Toby was smiling ruefully at her. "When both your parents and all of your uncles are Gundam pilots, you learn fast," he explained. "Oh," she said quietly. She entered the room and sat on the bed beside him. She looked at the box and saw the emblem on it was a Celtic knot with a pair of angel wings entwined in it. "It's so beautiful!" she said as she reached out to stroke the emblem. Toby covered it with his hand protectively. "It was from uncle Heero," he said, half distractingly, half as explanation. "He said I might need it someday." Kedo still didn't take her eyes off the box. "What is it?" she asked. Toby smiled. "You'll see," he said.
Cass had finished putting up the contents of the four boxes and the shoe box. the room looked very shrine like, if she did say so herself. She smiled. Not that she could really get anyone's opinion down here. Maybe Toby... she stopped herself. No body could be allowed down here while she was preparing the area. She stared at the pentagram emblazoned on the floor in front of her. She had heard the story so many times but she still loved to hear it. The story of how her mom had died when she was born, and how her father had been devastated. He had taken care of her like she was a delicate flower, afraid that she might die too; she almost had at birth. Then, one day, a few weeks after she had been born, her dad had been in feeding her. It was around midnight and nothing would stop her crying. then all of a sudden she just stopped. she cooed for a second then fell fast asleep. her dad had been confused, but he was tired ad so he put her in her cradle and headed to his room. When he had gotten there her mother was laying in bed, completely unharmed and very much alive. He had said he came back through a pentagram in the basement, but there wasn't a pentagram in the basement. He had taken them down to see and sure enough, there it was. It had been seared into the concrete all those years ago, and now she was going to make use of it.
She pulled out the box that she had gotten from under the couch. It was pure black, and on the top was an embosment of a Celtic knot with demon wings entwined in it. Her dad had given it to her yesterday. He said that it was supposed to be her mom's birthday present to her, but that she would need it for today. She opened the box, and as she did, she felt a wave of energy surge passed her and off into the distance. She paused a moment before continuing. That was weird, she thought.
Toby felt the energy surge hit him. Heero had said that this would happen. He jumped up and turned to Kedo, asking, "Would you please leave." Kedo was startled. She had felt a surge of energy rush passed her a second earlier, and had wanted to ask Toby about it, but apparently he wasn't going to let her. She stood and headed for the door, looking over her shoulder a moment, but seeing the urgency and sincerity in Toby's face, left quickly. When she was gone, Toby quickly locked the door. He also pulled all his blinds and barricaded the passageway from Cass's room to his. They had found it a few months ago, one of the many secrets of old houses. He sat down in the middle of his room and held the box to him. Now all he had to do was ride this out.
Cass looked into the box. Inside was a black robe and a necklace. She put on the robe first and almost laughed. She looked like the grim reaper. then she took the necklace and put it on. It had a pendent shaped like a scythe on it, and when she grabbed the pendent, it became a full size scythe. Now she was ready to start. She began to walk around the circle and chant. soon her mom would have the best present ever.
Duo seemed distracted suddenly. Heero had felt the energy surge too, and was controlling himself. Duo would want to go home now, he knew, and he knew he would have to distract him for a few minutes to give the pilots and kids time to finish. It' wouldn't take long, just a delayed check at the restaurant they were eating at. But he had already arranged for that by brining an overcharged credit card. He contained a smile. this was actually really fun. Duo turned to him and he quit his musings. "Hee-chan, I'm worried," Duo said. Heero was suprised to see how worried. He had expected those violet eyes to be distraught or uneasy, but he saw terror and panic. He began to wonder if maybe there was something he had overlooked or forgotten. He felt the pit of his stomach start to fall. Cass was in the center of this. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. "Worried about what?" he asked. "Let's go home," Duo replied, not answering him. "What's wrong, Duo?" Duo turned to him. "Nothing," he said. "Well, I think it's...no, it's nothing. Let's just go home." But it could be something very serious...
Toby felt pain all over. He shoved a fist in his mouth to keep from screaming in agony. Heero had warned him this would happen to. He thought on that to take his mind off the pain. How had Heero known what would happen? Was there more than the story gave on to that happened that night the pentagram was set in the concrete of the basement? Suddenly the pain stopped. He gasped for air, now realizing he hadn't taken a breath since the pain started. He took a minute to recover then headed down stairs. Heero and Duo would definitely be home soon.
Cass stared into the portal for a second, confused and disoriented. A face surfaced, then a body; reaching out for her. Cass felt the dead fingers on her arm and screamed. She swung the scythe at the specter in front of her and ran when it backed away. She ran out the door and slammed it shut, breathing hard. Suddenly she was surrounded. For a second she thought it was more dead people, but as she began to become coherent again and realized it was just Kedo and the pilots. She also noticed the doorway was covered in water. Her hand began to hurt, and she looked down to see a door handle shaped mark beginning to fade on her hand. "Holy water," Quatre explained. "We don't have anybody to seal the doorway, so we used Holy water. It only works for a little while though."
Behind the pilots, Cass saw Toby descending the stares. He was holding a box almost identical to the one her robe and scythe had come in, only white. He was shaking, and didn't look to stable. She pushed passed Kedo and the others and walked over to Toby, who had just reached the bottom of the stairs. "How are you feeling?" she asked. She could hear the others as they turned and saw the shape Toby was in. She had known this would happen, though; she had been there when her father had warned him. She also knew what the box was. "Are you feeling good enough to do this?" she asked again. He nodded. "Yeah," he replied, "if I could get to the door." The crowd parted to let him and Cass through, and when he got to the door, he opened his box. Cass winced as he did this, and when he pulled out the contents, she shuddered. It was a crucifix. He put down the box and the remainder of it's contents and pressed the crucifix to the door. The door began to bleed and Cass turned away. Then, with a flash a blue light, the door was fine. It wasn't wet anymore, it wasn't bleeding; it was just a door again. Toby put the crucifix back in the box and took the box upstairs. Cass took off her cloak and scythe pendent and put them back in her own box, then slid the box under the couch again. Then they sat in the living room and waited.
The second Heero pulled into the driveway, Duo jumped out of the car and rushed for the house. Heero took a second or two to park before following. When he entered, he saw Duo standing in the middle of the living room, and three pilots and three kids sitting on various chairs and such. "You're back early," Quatre said. "Is anything wrong?" Wufei asked. "No," Cass chimed. "Mommy just felt his present." She pointed to the basement. "It's in there, mommy." Duo went into the basement and a few minutes later, came back. "Oh my God!" he shrieked, shocked. "It's Madonna!" Cass looked at him. "Is that the one that attacked me?" she asked. Duo nodded. "Probably," he said. "You did this for me? How? You're not old enough." Cass smiled evilly. "It's a secret," she said.
A week later it was Toby and Cass's turn. The Doctors sent them both a pair of transceiver earrings and Duo gave them the boxes they had used the week previous without his knowledge. Cass was happiest with Wufei's present, though. At lunch she had spilled some pop on her shirt, and had gone up to change clothes, when she saw the sword laying on her bed. She had been thrilled. Her father had refused to get her a gun for her birthday, even though she had begged. She knew the sword was from Wufei because she had seen him practicing with one before, and she didn't think any of the other pilots knew how to use one. She had hurried down after she changed and said thank you, though no one except her and Wufei knew what about, and neither would tell. All Wufei would say was that she needed to learn something other than onna skills.
On the whole, Cass and Toby were very pleased with their birthday, and their gift to Duo. They knew their parents were trying to help them stay young, even though it was impossible. They were warriors' children, and they knew it. They were much older than any four year old had a right to be. They could never be children, and they all knew it.
A/N YAY! Wadda ya think? REVIEW DERN YOU!!!!!!!!!!
4 years old
Hero awoke to the feeling of tiny knees crawling across his body. He felt them transfer over to Duo's body and begin to shake his lover. "Wake up, mommy, wake up!" Cass's voice squeaked, even though she was trying to whisper. Heero suppressed a grin. Duo groaned in response to his little girl, and she giggled. "Good morning, mommy!" she chirped. "Guess what today is?" Duo moaned even louder. "It's your birthday!" Cass answered for him. "Quatre helped me make breakfast in bed for you," she continued happily, "but I dropped it on the way up. But these were okay." She held out three small packets and Duo was fully awake. He sat up quickly, grabbed the packets and stuffed them under his pillow. Cass watched with curiosity. "Why thank you, Hun," duo said quickly to distract her. "Who gave you those?" "Uncle Wufei did," Cass answered. 'He said he'd even put up with the noise for today, but I didn't really get what that meant."
While Duo distracted Cass, Heero slipped his hand under Duo's pillow and pulled out the three packets. They were greasy from having food on them, but he still knew what they were. Heero chuckled and got up. "That was a very thoughtful gift, don't you think?" he asked Duo. Duo was a little perturbed still but nodded. "You think he could've found a better way to get them to us than through Cass, though," he protested. "Oh, I'm sure he could've, but the look on your face..." Heero smiled and shook his head. "It was worth it." Duo sputtered, but accepted the answer.
Breakfast was waiting down in the kitchen. Quatre had cooked another meal, but it probably wasn't as good as the special one he had made earlier, Duo shrugged inwardly. It didn't matter, food was food. As he began to scarf away, Quatre sat down across from him. "We're taking the kids for the day," he said. "We thought you might like a day to yourselves, so we arranged some things and probably won't be back until late." Heero nodded. "Thank you," he said. Duo smiled slightly around a mouthful of food and tried to say the same, but it didn't come out quite right. Quatre just smiled.
Heero and Duo prepared to have a night on the town after breakfast, even though it was only eight in the morning. Duo noticed Heero putting in his earring, the one that had a transceiver in it. He suddenly became very suspicious and questioned Heero about it. Heero sighed and answered, "I have a mission I'm expecting. This is just in case the mission comes through." He said the last while pointing at the earring. Duo nodded. They were, after all, still soldiers.
Kedo arrived a few minutes after Duo and Heero finished. Apparently she was going with Quatre and the kids. Zechs had dropped her off, and had stayed a minute to say hello. Then they all left. Zechs for where ever and Quatre and Trowa with the kids for somewhere else. The pilots had been a little wary of associating with Zechs at first, but had soon come to find out that he had abandoned OZ a long time ago, and now more of a free agent. He tried to stay out of the war scene, but he still had his own gundam and would ocassionaly get in his own one-two. As all the pilots headed their own way, Heero and Duo decided that maybe they should go eat first. Heero sighed. He didn't know how Duo could eat so much, but he figured with al the running around they were likely to do, he would probably need the energy.
The children were sitting in the back of the car, chattering excitedly. Kedo pulled out a medium sized shoe box and opened it. inside were various objects such as black candles, a few white ones, some miniature braziers and a inoscence burner like the priests use, except with pentegrams in it. "Mommy will love this!" Cass squealed happily. Toby smiled too. Quatre drove for a while more before turning around and heading for the house. Almost as soon as he turned around he heard Heero's voice in his own transceiver; "We're out the door."
As they pulled back into their own driveway, Kedo tapped trowa on the shoulder. "Trowa?" she asked. "Would you help me with something? We put a box with more stuff for the portal in the trunk before we knocked on the door. Could you help me bring it inside?" Trowa nodded slightly. When the car had stopped he got out and retrieved the box Kedo had spoken of. She beamed at him. "Thank you, Trowa!" she said sweetly. Trowa watched her skip away towards the house. There was no way this was Relena's daughter.
Quatre had already brought their box out from the study, and Wufei was bringing his down the stairs when Trowa entered the house. Cass, Toby and Kedo had run upstairs and hauled another box to the stairs. Trowa put down Kedo's box and went to help the children bring down their contribution. "It's from daddy," Cass explained. Trowa nodded slightly, unseen from the naked eye. Cass caught it though, and smiled back. When he had hauled their box safely to the bottom of the stairs the children retook it and began to drag it toward the stairs to the basement, where Wufei and Quatre had already deposited their boxes. Trowa picked up Kedo's box again and headed to the basement himself.
Once all four boxes were safe inside the basement, the Gundam pilots and children returned to the main floor. Cass went over to the couch and pulled out a box. Quatre watched her with concern in his eyes. "Cass," he cautioned, "please be careful. If you start to lose control, stop and come back, okay?" Cass nodded as she headed back to the basement with the box. "I will, uncle Quatre," she promised. "Don't worry." With that she descended the flight of stairs down to the basement, shutting the door behind her. Everyone watched the door nervously for a while, then they all returned to the living room.
All except Toby.
Kedo had seen him go upstairs to his room. She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling she had better follow him to keep him out of trouble. As she reached his door, she saw her intuition had been right. Toby was sitting on the bed next to a box of his own. Kedo watched as he ran his fingers gently over something inscribed on the top. Kedo decided she had better see what was going on from Toby's point of view. She was about to make her presence known when Toby said, "Hello, Kedo." She jumped a little. She had tried to make sure he hadn't known she was there. "How did you..."Kedo didn't finish. Toby was smiling ruefully at her. "When both your parents and all of your uncles are Gundam pilots, you learn fast," he explained. "Oh," she said quietly. She entered the room and sat on the bed beside him. She looked at the box and saw the emblem on it was a Celtic knot with a pair of angel wings entwined in it. "It's so beautiful!" she said as she reached out to stroke the emblem. Toby covered it with his hand protectively. "It was from uncle Heero," he said, half distractingly, half as explanation. "He said I might need it someday." Kedo still didn't take her eyes off the box. "What is it?" she asked. Toby smiled. "You'll see," he said.
Cass had finished putting up the contents of the four boxes and the shoe box. the room looked very shrine like, if she did say so herself. She smiled. Not that she could really get anyone's opinion down here. Maybe Toby... she stopped herself. No body could be allowed down here while she was preparing the area. She stared at the pentagram emblazoned on the floor in front of her. She had heard the story so many times but she still loved to hear it. The story of how her mom had died when she was born, and how her father had been devastated. He had taken care of her like she was a delicate flower, afraid that she might die too; she almost had at birth. Then, one day, a few weeks after she had been born, her dad had been in feeding her. It was around midnight and nothing would stop her crying. then all of a sudden she just stopped. she cooed for a second then fell fast asleep. her dad had been confused, but he was tired ad so he put her in her cradle and headed to his room. When he had gotten there her mother was laying in bed, completely unharmed and very much alive. He had said he came back through a pentagram in the basement, but there wasn't a pentagram in the basement. He had taken them down to see and sure enough, there it was. It had been seared into the concrete all those years ago, and now she was going to make use of it.
She pulled out the box that she had gotten from under the couch. It was pure black, and on the top was an embosment of a Celtic knot with demon wings entwined in it. Her dad had given it to her yesterday. He said that it was supposed to be her mom's birthday present to her, but that she would need it for today. She opened the box, and as she did, she felt a wave of energy surge passed her and off into the distance. She paused a moment before continuing. That was weird, she thought.
Toby felt the energy surge hit him. Heero had said that this would happen. He jumped up and turned to Kedo, asking, "Would you please leave." Kedo was startled. She had felt a surge of energy rush passed her a second earlier, and had wanted to ask Toby about it, but apparently he wasn't going to let her. She stood and headed for the door, looking over her shoulder a moment, but seeing the urgency and sincerity in Toby's face, left quickly. When she was gone, Toby quickly locked the door. He also pulled all his blinds and barricaded the passageway from Cass's room to his. They had found it a few months ago, one of the many secrets of old houses. He sat down in the middle of his room and held the box to him. Now all he had to do was ride this out.
Cass looked into the box. Inside was a black robe and a necklace. She put on the robe first and almost laughed. She looked like the grim reaper. then she took the necklace and put it on. It had a pendent shaped like a scythe on it, and when she grabbed the pendent, it became a full size scythe. Now she was ready to start. She began to walk around the circle and chant. soon her mom would have the best present ever.
Duo seemed distracted suddenly. Heero had felt the energy surge too, and was controlling himself. Duo would want to go home now, he knew, and he knew he would have to distract him for a few minutes to give the pilots and kids time to finish. It' wouldn't take long, just a delayed check at the restaurant they were eating at. But he had already arranged for that by brining an overcharged credit card. He contained a smile. this was actually really fun. Duo turned to him and he quit his musings. "Hee-chan, I'm worried," Duo said. Heero was suprised to see how worried. He had expected those violet eyes to be distraught or uneasy, but he saw terror and panic. He began to wonder if maybe there was something he had overlooked or forgotten. He felt the pit of his stomach start to fall. Cass was in the center of this. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. "Worried about what?" he asked. "Let's go home," Duo replied, not answering him. "What's wrong, Duo?" Duo turned to him. "Nothing," he said. "Well, I think it's...no, it's nothing. Let's just go home." But it could be something very serious...
Toby felt pain all over. He shoved a fist in his mouth to keep from screaming in agony. Heero had warned him this would happen to. He thought on that to take his mind off the pain. How had Heero known what would happen? Was there more than the story gave on to that happened that night the pentagram was set in the concrete of the basement? Suddenly the pain stopped. He gasped for air, now realizing he hadn't taken a breath since the pain started. He took a minute to recover then headed down stairs. Heero and Duo would definitely be home soon.
Cass stared into the portal for a second, confused and disoriented. A face surfaced, then a body; reaching out for her. Cass felt the dead fingers on her arm and screamed. She swung the scythe at the specter in front of her and ran when it backed away. She ran out the door and slammed it shut, breathing hard. Suddenly she was surrounded. For a second she thought it was more dead people, but as she began to become coherent again and realized it was just Kedo and the pilots. She also noticed the doorway was covered in water. Her hand began to hurt, and she looked down to see a door handle shaped mark beginning to fade on her hand. "Holy water," Quatre explained. "We don't have anybody to seal the doorway, so we used Holy water. It only works for a little while though."
Behind the pilots, Cass saw Toby descending the stares. He was holding a box almost identical to the one her robe and scythe had come in, only white. He was shaking, and didn't look to stable. She pushed passed Kedo and the others and walked over to Toby, who had just reached the bottom of the stairs. "How are you feeling?" she asked. She could hear the others as they turned and saw the shape Toby was in. She had known this would happen, though; she had been there when her father had warned him. She also knew what the box was. "Are you feeling good enough to do this?" she asked again. He nodded. "Yeah," he replied, "if I could get to the door." The crowd parted to let him and Cass through, and when he got to the door, he opened his box. Cass winced as he did this, and when he pulled out the contents, she shuddered. It was a crucifix. He put down the box and the remainder of it's contents and pressed the crucifix to the door. The door began to bleed and Cass turned away. Then, with a flash a blue light, the door was fine. It wasn't wet anymore, it wasn't bleeding; it was just a door again. Toby put the crucifix back in the box and took the box upstairs. Cass took off her cloak and scythe pendent and put them back in her own box, then slid the box under the couch again. Then they sat in the living room and waited.
The second Heero pulled into the driveway, Duo jumped out of the car and rushed for the house. Heero took a second or two to park before following. When he entered, he saw Duo standing in the middle of the living room, and three pilots and three kids sitting on various chairs and such. "You're back early," Quatre said. "Is anything wrong?" Wufei asked. "No," Cass chimed. "Mommy just felt his present." She pointed to the basement. "It's in there, mommy." Duo went into the basement and a few minutes later, came back. "Oh my God!" he shrieked, shocked. "It's Madonna!" Cass looked at him. "Is that the one that attacked me?" she asked. Duo nodded. "Probably," he said. "You did this for me? How? You're not old enough." Cass smiled evilly. "It's a secret," she said.
A week later it was Toby and Cass's turn. The Doctors sent them both a pair of transceiver earrings and Duo gave them the boxes they had used the week previous without his knowledge. Cass was happiest with Wufei's present, though. At lunch she had spilled some pop on her shirt, and had gone up to change clothes, when she saw the sword laying on her bed. She had been thrilled. Her father had refused to get her a gun for her birthday, even though she had begged. She knew the sword was from Wufei because she had seen him practicing with one before, and she didn't think any of the other pilots knew how to use one. She had hurried down after she changed and said thank you, though no one except her and Wufei knew what about, and neither would tell. All Wufei would say was that she needed to learn something other than onna skills.
On the whole, Cass and Toby were very pleased with their birthday, and their gift to Duo. They knew their parents were trying to help them stay young, even though it was impossible. They were warriors' children, and they knew it. They were much older than any four year old had a right to be. They could never be children, and they all knew it.
A/N YAY! Wadda ya think? REVIEW DERN YOU!!!!!!!!!!